So, I’m sure you’ve heard all about the mayhem in San Francisco and the Torch Relay through the city.

If you haven’t, you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that things didn’t exactly go as planned. The route had to be shortened and moved inland; away from protesters and spectators alike. And on top of that, the ceremony was relocated from the Bay’s waterfront to the San Francisco International Airport.

The heavy presence of demonstrators comes as no surprise, as the torch has been met with the same pandemonium at other stops across the globe.

Swimming’s own Natalie Coughlin was one of the chosen torchbearers. I’d be super-interested to hear her thoughts on this experience amidst all the chaos.

We were going to send our own kiwi to check things out, but her schedule didn’t allow it. It’s just as well, though. Since the schedule and route were changed without alerting the public, she probably wouldn’t have seen anything anyway!

If you were with us last year as we covered the 2007 FINA World Champs in Melbourne, then you you are probably familiar with the friendly deal we have with the Lochtenator. If you have no idea what I’m talking about click here.

Our deal was that for every World Record Ryan swims, we will buy him a case of beer; Heineken, because it is his favorite. It started as a joke, but has snowballed into quite the incentive plan. We know what we’re doing, really we do…

So, he swam the lead leg in Team USA’s world record-setting 400 Free Relay at the Short Course Worlds in Manchester. We aren’t sure what size of Heineken pack to add to the neverending tally. It doesn’t really matter at this point because the number is ridiculously high. Basically whenever we’re all in the same location — and Ryan wants some beer — all he has to do is ask. We owe him.

We can only hope that the next hotel party doesn’t get broken up by the hotel staff before he gets the chance to drink it! It really is too bad his coach won’t let him take any on the plane with him. Work with us, people!

Beginning today and continuing through Sunday, you can watch the 2008 FINA Short Course Swimming World Championships live on WCSN.com at 2PM (ET). Cilck the banner below:

Today’s schedule: Opening Ceremony, Men’s 200m Free, Women’s 200m Fly, Women’s 400m IM, Men’s 4×100m Free, Women’s 4×200m Free

• Emily Seebohm was previously suspended for text-message bullying. 2006 called. It wants its news back.
• Don’t be surprised if Team France boycotts the opening ceremonies . Hillary Clinton wants the president to follow suit.
• The Olympic Torch is in San Francisco. Protests are already occuring and more are expected.
• Someone thinks Swimming Australia didn’t overreact with the Steph Rice Facebook situation. Reality begs to differ.
• No one is quite sure how many Aussie Olympic Swimmers actually support Nick D’Arcy after his recent troubles with the law
• Ryk “The Hottness” Neethling qualified for his 4th consecutive Olympic Games
• Ohio State Grand Prix video on YouTube. Grab it now, before it’s removed…
• Liam Tancock still feels good after breaking the 50 Back World Record

Looks like my 15 minutes is starting!

This is mostly for the visitors who don’t know what’s up. You’ll all be that much more informed and well-versed on what I do and who I am. That way you don’t register to comment and say things that piss me off. You don’t want to see me mad. Trust.

Ok, maybe I’m annoyed because it’s my hometown and the first big USA Swimming National meet that it’s hosted. Maybe it’s because I’m still tired from the alteration of my sleeping schedule.

This meet’s official title was Toyota Grand Prix at the Ohio State University. To many locals it was simply the Ohio State Grand Prix.

But nowhere has or was this meet ever named the “Columbus Grand Prix”, so stop calling it that! This reminds me of last summer’s Japan International Meet that so many mistakenly referred to as the Japan Open. That truly puzzled me.

The Ohio State University is located in Columbus, OH. We’re glad people know that.

No one was calling the Stanford Grand Prix the “Palo Alto Grand Prix” were they? No.

Stop the madness, I say!

I’m looking forward to a long night of sleep tonight, but before I do that it’s update time suckas!

1. Keep an eye on SwimNetwork.com in the near future. You’ll be able to get to know yours truly a little better. That includes a little more insight on my work at SwimStars.org

2. Because of the previous line, and a couple of other events this weekend, I’m beginning to realize that my so-called anonymity is disappearing in the swim community. Not sure if that will ultimately be a good or bad thing! I guess I’ll have to wait and see!

3. Everyone send good thoughts to dear ol’ T-DUB (Davis Tarwater, for those of you who are new around here). He’s sick and shouldn’t have even made the trip down to Columbus for the Grand Prix. Get better, playa! Pimpin’ aint easy, and you can’t do it when you’re sick.

4a. I am personally taking credit for “breaking” PVK. It’s taken a while, but I finally have him trained very well. Not only does he look more comfortable on the awards podium, but he poses for my camera too. Another thing we Swim Aids have been chomping at the bit to witness was a show of any kind of emotion out of him after a race. Well, I got to see first-hand, the Vander-fist-pumpâ„¢. It was well worth the wait and I successfully captured it for all to see. No, not right now. Later. Although I will be sending his mama the first picture. She couldn’t be here this weekend and I know she’d love to see it!

4b. BTW, props, again, to PVK for his 400 & 1500 Free swims. Holy cow!

5. Felicia Lee swam 5746726094 races his weekend and still had a smile on her face at the end of the night. She’s too cute. Unfortunately, I was unable to fold her up and put her in my pocket. There’s always next time!

6. I got caught in the crush of young fans/volunteers trying to get autographs from PVK, Phelps, and Kaitlin. They told me they were leaving immediately after the session to head back up to Ann Arbor, so I was getting in my social time then. I wasn’t planning on sticking around that long, but before I knew it, I was surrounded. So I just went with the flow, helping fans get their autographs and taking pictures for them as they posed with the CWers. I always enjoy seeing the swimmers interact with their fans. I can almost picture them, when they were younger, doing the same thing. There were so many fans that wanted autographs, but they had to leave and hit the road, so the informal signing was cut short. I got a couple of shots of Phelps, but couldn’t take any of PVK and Kaitlin since they were signing right next to me. I don’t make a habit of sticking Bertha right in the face of someone standing inches from me. Talk about awkward!

7. It’s been a while since I’ve covered a full meet. Now I’m itching for another. Could it be Santa Clara? We’ll see!

8. My SPA groupies wanted to go out after their coach went to sleep, but there aren’t any places near campus or downtown that don’t card, so they were out of luck there. That may have been different if my brother, who works as a bouncer, were working tonight. But alas, he wasn’t, so no party there.

9. I shall miss Peter Bick, but I will see him at Trials. If I do make it to Santa Clara, it will be weird to not pal around with him. However, if I’m at Santa Clara, I’ll have my dear kiwi to keep me company!

10. Final Thoughts: I really hope that this Ohio State Grand Prix is a yearly event. I really like having a big national meet here in my own backyard. It’s nice to not always have to travel to meets. I thought everything went really well and the meet ran very smoothly, was well-attended by fans and top swimmers alike, and featured some fast swimming. Can’t ask for much more, can you?